Wall element



P. F. ALBEE, JR

WALL ELEMENT Feb. 12, 1963 2 Sheets-Shes?l 1 Filed July 14, 1958 I INVENTOR. P ereg 1/4 e cle/Jc/f ./be, JP.

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Feb. 12,1963 P. F. ALBEE, JR L 3,071,056

WALL ELEMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 14, 1958 l @MQ/ me, MQW

d w nl w United States Patent Office 3,577,955 Patented Feb. 12, 1963 3,077,056 WALL ELEMENT Percy Frederick Albee, fir., Barrington, RJ., assigner to Q-Ianel Corporation, a corporation of ode island Filed ll'uly 14, 1958, Ser. lNo. 748,517 1 Claim. (Cl. Sti- 142) This invention relates to a wall element or adapter strip for securing a post and the like to a building wall with clap board or shingle siding.

It is usual when enclosing a porch and the like to provide a saw tooth surface on the inner face of the uprights of the ends of the porch Walls which are to be attached to the building wall. The saw tooth face provides surfaces each of which extends at an angle similar to the angle of the slant of the exposed side of the clap board or shingle as the case may be and of a length substantially equal to the width of the exposed side of said clap board or shingle. In instances wherein the porch enclosure is to be made of metal such as aluminum it is the practice to provide a Wood element or so-called adapter strip which may be a length of furring or studding provided with a saw tooth inner face prepared on the job, the metal frame of the porch being secured to said adapter strip. Much time is consumed in preparing such adapter strip and the desired engagement of the saw tooth surface against the clap board or shingle siding depends upon the skill of the worker in the use of the tools employed for such purpose.

An object of the invention is to provide an adapter strip of the above character which will be fabricated in a way to reduce to a considerable degree the amount of labor usually spent in preparing such adapter strip.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a metal adapter strip in which the saw tooth face may be provided by a simple bending of the metal.

Another object of the invention is to provide a metal adapter strip made of a plurality of separate members arranged in an echelon relation and each provided with a clap board engaging portion.

With these and other objects in View, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE l is a perspective view partially in section showing an adapter strip embodying the invention and having a corner post attached thereto;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of one of the elements of the adapter strip of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of a plurality of elements shown in FIGURE 2 and arranged in the relationship shown in FIGURE l;

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of one of the above mentioned elements prior to severing to the proper size required for a particular installation;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of a fastener means for attaching a post and the like to the adapter strip;

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of a post and the like provided with a groove for receiving the fastener of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 7-7 of FIGURE l;

FIGURE 8 is an elevational view of a strip of sheet metal provided with a marking for constructing a modiied adapter strip;

FIGURE 9 is a view similar to FIGURE 8 severed along the broken lines shown in FIGURE 8; and

FIGURE 10 is a perspecitve view of the blank of FIG- URE 9 bent along the score lines shown in FIGURE 9; and

FIGURES ll and l2 are perspective views of a still further modified form.

Referring to the drawings in more detail, 16 designates generally a wall of a building, as for example, a home which is shown conventionally constructed and having an exterior clap board or shingle siding 12 which is secured in known manner to the rough siding 13 of the wall. The clap boards extend in the usual lateral direction and in lapped engagement with each other in courses, one above the other. Thus the exposed side of each clap board extends on an outward slant. When attaching a vertical support such as a post 14 against the side of the wall an adapter strip 15 is provided to snugly engage against the slanted clap board surfaces. The post 14 is, in the present instance, intended to be representative of the end portion of any structure such as a porch enclosure wall which is to be attached and secured to the wall 10 and the adapter strip, an element of said wall portion.

According to the present invention, the adapter strip 15 is made of relatively thin sheet metal, for example, aluminum. Preferably the strip is made of separate lengths of generally rectangular pieces of sheet metal by bending one marginal side edge thereof (see FIGURE 4) so as to form a generally rectangular shaped member 16 having a body portion 17 and a lip 18 projecting therefrom at substantially right angles. The lip 18 is pierced as at 19 so as to receive fastening such as nails for attaching the lip to the wall lil. It is contemplated to furnish the partly formed members 16 to the workers on the job which will be there fabricated to the finished form in accordance to the amount of exposed clap board surface at each course. Accordingly, the worker savers the excess portion of the lip as along line 2t) and inwardly along fold line 21 to said line 2d so as to notch the same as at 22 (see FIGURE 2). The member 16 may now be positioned against the clap board and to lit the pitch of the board. A plumb line or other known measuring device is used to mark the body portion 17 as at 23 which indicates the line of cut that provides a vertical edge 24 with respect to the wall 1t). It will be seen that member 16 is now shaped as shown in FIGURE 2 with the lower portion 25 of the body extending beyond the lower edge of the lip, and the lip 13 extends on a slant. or angle with respect to the vertical edge 24 and which slant is similar to that of the exposed face of the clap board. Another member 16 is similarly formed on an adjacent course so that its exposed edge 24 is in line with that previously cut, and so on until a complete length is formed.

As each of the members 16 is processed as above, they are positioned on the clap board siding 12 with the lip 18 snugly engaged along the length thereof against the face of the clap board and secured thereto by means of nails extending through openings 19. It will be seen in FIG- URE 3, the lower portion 25 of each member 15 extends in lapped engagement with the adjacent member 16. Thus there is provided a wall element or adapter strip made of a plurality of separate members 16 which extend in lapped engagement with each other one above the other and with the edges 24 extending vertically in line with each other.

Preferably the post is secured to the adapter strip 15 without the use of nails and like fastening. To this end there may be provided any device with a channel to snugly receive the edges 24 which, by Way of example, may be a tubular clip-like member 26 which is of a length equal to the length of strip 15 and provided with a pair of spaced resilient jaws 27 between which is snugly received the outer marginal edge of the adapter strip (see FIG- URE 7), which structure may be readily met by any number of extrudable synthetics or thin metallics. If the clip member 26 is used, the post 28, FIGURES 6 and 7, is provided with a groove or recess 29 which is made of a size so as to receive the body 3i) of the fastener 26 in friction tight engagement so as to secure the post to the adapter strip and to additionally provide a seal against the weather at'the fastening 26. A sealing compound may be positioned at the junction of the lip edge with the clap board as at 31 so as to seal out the weather and the passage of insects and the like, if desired.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent I have disclosed an adapter strip which is of simple sheet metal construction which is adapted to be partially fabricated at the plant and easily iinished in the field according to particular wall condition and with a marked saving in labor cost and skill required over the prior art way of fabricating adapter strip. It will be further apparent the distance the edge 24 projects outwardly from the building wall may be more easily controlled than in the prior art Wood adapter strip.

In some instances it may be desirable to construct the adapter strip from a single length of sheet metal. To this end a strip of sheet metal 35, see FIGURE 8, is severed along dotted lines 36 so as to result in the blank form shown in FIGURE 9. The blank may now be scored along dot and dash lines 37 and the portions 38 folded along the said score lines. This will form lips 1S extendingat right'angles to the body portion 39, and at an angle in a lengthwise direction of the lip so as to slant the same at an angle equal to the angle of slant of the clap board with reference to a vertical.

The partially fabricated strip as seen in FIGURE 10 may'now be positioned against the wall l0 with the lips 18? engaged against theexposed face of theclap board. With the aidv of a` plumb line or other instrument, the body may be marked as at 40 to indicate the line of cut so as to remove the excess material and provide the desired plumbed edge.V

Certain installations require that the adapter stripbe associated with an upright post, such as 28, in which the groove 29' thereof is of considerable width. In such cases it becomes desirable to form the strip from a U-shaped material 50 (FIGURES 1l and 12) which is severed on lines 51a, 51b, and Slt` to provide a wall portion 52 which corresponds to the course dimension of the particular siding, and then severed on lines 52a and 52h to form a plumb edge 53`as in the case of the previously described embodiments. Also by this construction, an overlap portien 54 is provided, the remaining assembly procedures being identical with the rst embodiment except that a4 with a series of laterally extending siding panels secured-- to said wall and in lapped engagement with each other in courses one above the other,vthe exposed face of each of said panels extending at a slant relative'to said wall, a post spaced from said wall, a strip comprising a pluralityl of sheet metal members each of a dimension longer than said courses extending in lapped engagement with eachy other one above the other and each having the outer side edge thereof substantially aligned with each other in a vertical direction and provided at the opposite edge with a lip, said lip being shorter than the strip and of a-dirnension substantially equal to each course, said lip extending parallel to said exposed panel face crosswise thereof and in.

engagement against said exposed face, saidpost having a recess along one edge thereof, fasteningv means with resilient jaws, said strip being held in said4 jaws, saidV fastening means frictionally engaged isaid recess for securing said post to said strip.

References'Cited in the'tleof this patent UNITED, STATES PATENTsf 

